Ottawa still needs proof Canadians involved in Algeria attack: Baird

Hostage tally

The Algerian government’s latest information on the dead, missing and living.

THE DEAD:
37 foreign hostages
29 Islamist terrorists.
1 Algerian driver at the plant.
Foreign hostages confirmed dead so far include seven workers from Japan, six from the Philippines, three each from Britain and the United States, two from Romania and one from France.

MISSING
5, according to Algeria, but other governments say that number is too low.
3 Japanese missing, says Japan.
5 Norwegian employees of Statoil, the energy company says.
3 Britons and a Colombian who lived in the U.K., the British government says.
4 Filipinos remain missing, says the Philippines
2 Malaysians are still missing, says Malaysia.

Algeria’s prime minister says two Canadians were involved in the hostage taking at a natural gas plant that left 38 workers dead but Ottawa says they are still working to verify those claims.

“We can’t confirm the accuracy of these reports. But what we are doing, our embassy in Algiers and our team in Ottawa are working to try to verify these informations and get the names of these alleged Canadians. But we can’t report anything official at this time,” Foreign Minister John Baird told CTV News Monday.

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said the hostage taking was carried out by 30 militants, who had inside information and wore military uniforms, and the leader of the Islamist militants ordered all the hostages to be executed.

“You may have heard the last words of the terrorist chief,” Sellal told reporters. “He gave the order for all the foreigners to be killed, so there was a mass execution, many hostages were killed by a bullet to the head.”

All but one of the dead victims – an Algerian security guard – were foreigners. The dead hostages included seven Japanese workers, six Filipinos, three energy workers each from the U.S. and Britain, two from Romania and one worker from France.

Sellal said the terrorist leader was a Canadian and was among the militants killed.

“A Canadian was among the militants. He was co-ordinating the attack,” Sellal said, naming him only as Chedad, a surname common with Arabs in the region.

Canadian officials say they are still working to confirm the information.

“The announcement of the Algerian prime minister is fine, but we need verification. It could be a forged document. We need to confirm,” a Canadian official who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity told The Associated Press.

The Algerian leader said the Canadians were of Arab descent. He further said the militant cell also included men from Egypt, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Tunisia, as well as three Algerians.

The attack began early Wednesday with the attempted hijacking of two buses filled with workers outside the complex. Repelled by Algerian forces, the militants moved on the main complex, armed with missiles, mortars and bombs for their three explosives experts, said Prime Minister Sellal. They split into two groups, with one infiltrating the complex’s living quarters and the other the gas plant.

The prime minister said the heavily armed militants had prepared the attack for two months. He said the attackers arrived from northern Mali and had planned to return there with the foreign hostages. Seven French citizens taken hostage in recent years are thought to be held by al-Qaida linked groups in northern Mali.

Sellal justified the helicopter attack Thursday on vehicles filled with hostages out of the fear the kidnappers were attempting to escape.

In a statement, the Masked Brigade, the group that claimed to have masterminded the takeover, has warned of more such attacks against any country backing military intervention in neighboring Mali, where the French are trying to stop an advance by Islamic extremists. Algeria, despite its government’s reservations about the French decision, is allowing French jets to overfly.

Col. Thierry Burkhard, the French military spokesman, said he did not know if militants in Mali were aware of the events in Algeria.

“However, I’m convinced the terrorist groups in the field have radios, so there’s a strong chance that they’re not only up to date with what’s happening in Algeria but they’re listening to everything that Western journalists are saying about the deployment of different forces in the field,” he said.

The militants’ operation was led by an Algerian, Amine Benchenab, who was known to security services and was killed during the assault, Burkhard added.

Moktar Belmoktar, who is believed to have orchestrated the attack, said in a statement over the weekend that the Algerian site was chosen after the country opened its airspace.

Sellal said negotiating was essentially impossible.

“Their goal was to kidnap foreigners,” he said. “They wanted to flee to Mali with the foreigners, but once they were surrounded they started killing the first hostages.”

He said the assault by Algerian special forces on the plant on Saturday that killed the last group of militants and hostages came after the kidnappers attempted to destroy the complex: “They led us into a real labyrinth, in negotiations that became unreasonable.”